Oh, joy.

Now where were we when we so rudely interrupted by that butthead? Oh yeah, a temporary job, PDX Knit Bloggers, knitting, and house stuff again.

First, the job. Well, I went into that job where they were afraid I'd be bored. I hate to admit it, but they were right. So right, in fact, that after an hour and a half, I called the headhunter to say, "Find somebody else; fast!" Not only was it not litigation, the office is archaic. The computers were so slow, I could have chiseled stone tablets faster. And the copy machine was one baby step above the old mimeograph machines. And everybody in the office was wearing jeans, t-shirts, and tech sandals. I, however, showed up in my usual law office attire: $400 suit, silk blouse, heels, good jewelry, and leather bag. Maybe that's the reason no one talked to me the entire 3 hours; not even "good morning" or an introduction.

So, I left at noon to go to an interview the headhunter had scheduled. I walked 4 blocks in heels, only to find out it was a wrong address. So, I called the headhunter to get the right one, only to find out that it was 5 blocks from where I started, but IN THE OTHER FRICKING DIRECTION! I hung up, walked one block, thought "fuck this", and called the headhunter to tell them: 1) to call the interview, fall on their sword by saying they made a mistake giving me the address and reschedule for some other time, and b) that I wasn't going back to work. Then I hung up on them and caught a train home.

In my head, I know I'll never have the kind of office I had before. I know that I'll will never again have such a great boss, such great office mates, such close friendships, so convenient to commute, a good salary, and generous benefits, all at the same time. But, dammit, that's what I want. I feel like a petulant two-year old having a temper tantrum. Somebody burst my balloon and I want it back. I don't want a new one; I want the one I had.

In the meantime, I'm trying to console myself with my new friends from the PDX Knit Bloggers. And a fabulous bunch they are, too! I definitely think these gals will help keep my head on straight as much as my office gals do. And we've successfully lured Karen into our obsession! Not only have we convinced her to try knitting on sticks instead of the loom, but we convinced her to start blogging. Would you just look at picture at the top of her new blog? This gal has some mad camera skillz!

Oh, the bamboo sweater? Yeah, still slogging along. Miles and miles of stockinette on size 4 needles has lost it's intrigue. Yes, I know I was a glutton for punishment to start that thing, but being project monogamous as I am, I am determined to finish the damned thing if it kills me. And it just might. It just may take awhile before I can stand to look at it long enough to actually wear it, however. It may go into the Christmas gift pile, instead.

And lastly, house stuff, again. Now that Tool Man and I have had a couple months of relative peace inside the house, the contractors arrived at our building yesterday to begin tearing off the outside. To make the long story short, our homeowners association had to sue the builder because of his lackadaisical adherence to state and county building codes. We won, sort of; but now we have to do the reconstruction because we certainly don't trust the builder to do the repairs. So the new contractor started last week by removing the outside lights, doorbell, and house numbers; and tore down the fences dividing the backyards. Yesterday, they tore the back deck off the side of the house. Today, they came back to tear off the front porch, outside trim, outside door moldings, and start taking off the siding. Tool Man talked to the foreman today; he says they expect to be done by the end of October. Oh, joy.